October 19/09 9:55 am - Velo New Brunswick 'Cross Cup #1

Posted by Editoress on 10/19/09

Velo New Brunswick 'Cross Cup #1 - Dieppe, NB

In what proved to be a very interesting race between three of the top young riders in the nation, Wolfeville's (Nova Scotia) Garrett McLeod came out on top after almost 54 minutes of hard racing yesterday, when the experience of the rider from the Kona / H&R Block team paid off.

He was followed closely by two young guns - Andrew Lesperance (Halifax, NS) and Stuart Wight (Riverview, NB). For a long time, Lesperence proved to be the most spectacular of the three, by jumping and climbing every obstacle of the St-Anselme Rotary Park without getting off the bike.

"The course was so much fun and I was taking a lot of risks. But I know I'm not a good runner compared to Garrett and Stuart, so it was my way of putting some pressure on them."

But the fatigue of the two younger riders and the experience of McLeod, a two times medalist at 'Cross Nationals, eventually paid off. The battle was an epic one, but they also showed great respect for each other while they waited for Lesperence to do a quick wheel change after he flatted about 35 minutes into the race.

"As an organizer, you have to be very happy with the quality of racing we had today. The A group podium alone, would compete in any event across this continent. They've done it in the past, and I'm sure they'll do it again."

Further down into the group, many other interesting battles were developing. Craig Harper made lost time on his opponents after his classic slow start to take the B class event over Neil Symington and Guy Pellerin. In the C group, Julien Roussel took the top spot on the podium in front of Rob Arseneau and J.P. MacIntyre. On the women's side, Michelle Chase took the top honour.

Thanks to FitWorks for the donation of such great prizes at the last minute. A great thank also to all the volunteers who helped during the weekend along with the City of Dieppe.

The second heat of this Velo NB Cup will take place in St-John on October 25th and will return to Dieppe on November 1st. Meanwhile, week 17 of the Mike's Bike Shop Cup will take place on the famous St-Anselme Rotary Park tomorrow (Tuesday) evening at 6 pm.